Before I dive into details, three things are important to keep in mind: (1) Northern Wheatears (NOWH) undergo a complete molt (i.e. they molt body feathers AND their tail and flight feathers) at the end of summer, so this bird is wearing all new feathers. (2) That warm ochre/brown coloration is just on the feather tips, and wears off over the winter. (3) Males and females are tough if not impossible to reliably ID in their basic/winter plumage, and aging is nearly impossible. But that shouldn't stop us from trying anyway, just in case this bird shows us enough detail to narrow it down a bit! :-) Photos below (from Birding Ohio on Facebook and flickr.com) show some of the key field marks. That said, here are my thoughts on the age, sex and subspecies ID of the Headlands bird: *Subspecies? I'm not sure, but probably "Greenland." Again, I'm not certain. * Northern Wheatear (NOWH) are a "holarctic" species and of the four recognized subspecies, two of them live up north and could show up as vagrants in the lower 48. Their their range extends from Alaska across Asia and Europe (nominate subspecies O. o. oenanthe) to Iceland, Greenland and Labrador (Greenland race O. o. leucorhoa). For more on their taxonomy, see http://ibc.lynxeds.com/species/northern-wheatear-oenanthe-oenanthe By range, the Headlands bird is likely of the Greenland race O. o. leucorhoa which averages more richly colored underparts as seen on this bird. BUT some members of the nominate subspecies also show this rich coloration, and it's not impossible that one of the Alaskan birds mistakenly flew to Ohio instead of to Asia, so we can't be certain. I'm not sure what is known about how many of the fall eastern North American birds are known to be of one race or the other. *Sex? Probably male, but I'd love to hear from others with more expertise.* *Age? Not sure.* According to this 2001 email from Angus Wilson on the ID Frontiers list (a place for discussing cutting edge ID challenges, not for asking about ID help unless it fits into pushing the boundaries of bird ID knowledge) aging birds is very hard unless you basically catch them (or photograph them yawning in great light). If you've heard of the "Pyle" guide banders use for bird ID, Svensson (1992) is the European equivalent. Regarding subspecies ID and aging (from the email at the link povided below)... Svensson in his Identification Guide to European Passerines (4th ed, 1992, British Trust for Ornithology, the Nunnery, Norfolk.) the European Pyle - says re separation of leucorhoa from oenanthe "Identification of single birds in autumn is rarely possible except by size as some northern birds of the nominate subspecies have rather distinctly rufous-buff plumage." (There is an overlap in wing length, so this is only useful for the biggest birds in the hand.) Re: ageing in autumn he says " Ad.: Inside of upper mandible grey-black or black. 1Y.: Inside of upper mandible partly yellow." You would have to be pretty lucky to see that without catching it! Re: sexing in autumn: "Ad male: Lores black, ear-C blackish tipped brown, supercilium (and forehead in many) white. 1Y male/all females: Lores brown-balck (or paler brown with indistinct dark stripe), ear-C (dark) brown, supercilium creamy-white or buffish." The account in Jenni and Winkler, Moult and ageing of European Passerines (1994) is rather lengthier but essentially the same. Sometimes one can make out a moult limit in the greater coverts which clinches a 1Y bird (but only in about 29 per cent of birds apparently and then usually in the innermost coverts). They do add that "ad males can always be recognised by the dark black colour of the whole wing and the greyish, not yellowish-brown outer fringes of the GC." (via http://www.virtualbirder.com/bmail/idfrontiers/200109/w3/index.html#10) Regarding age... If we get some nice shots of the inside of the mouth, we might have a better idea. BUT, we do see that "ad males can always be recognized by the dark black colour of the whole wing and the greyish, no yellowish-brown outer fringes of the [greater coverts]."!!! Looking at this flight shot by Dale Gaul (to the Birding Ohio facebook group) and letting my imagination wear all those fresh buffy edges off the wing feathers, I see a lot of black :-) https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t31.0-8/10687487_262276707314730_6682121109344184813_o.jpg Also note the white forehead, distinct white supercillium, black lores etc. of the face seem consistent with this being a male. https://www.flickr.com/photos/29655079@N02/15167659726/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/pauljhurtado/15008228798/in/photostream/ So I think we can be very optimistic that this is a male, probably a Greenland bird. Age is up in the air for me still. I'll post a follow-up with more photos and details if things progress beyond what's above. Thoughts? -- Paul J. Hurtado Postdoctoral Fellow, The Ohio State University Mathematical Biosciences Institute, http://mbi.osu.edu/ Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, http://ael.osu.edu/ E-mail: [log in to unmask] Webpage: http://people.mbi.ohio-state.edu/hurtado.10 ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Please consider joining our Society, at www.ohiobirds.org/site/membership.php. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: listserv.miamioh.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]